This petition has amassed over 12,500 signatures and has led Twitter to announce plans to add a ‘report abuse’ button (Picture: Change.org)

A besieged Twitter has announced that a ‘report abuse’ button will accompany every tweet after vicious messages were sent to several women over the weekend.

The social media site has faced heavy criticism from MPs and users after Caroline Criado Perez received a barrage of rape and death threats.

Police today bailed a 21-year-old man who was arrested in connection with some of the hostile tweets.

More than 12,500 people have signed a petition demanding Twitter to deal with trolls quicker and more efficiently. There have been calls for a boycott of the site to take place on August 4.

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, wrote to the UK manager of Twitter and said: ‘Despite the scale and seriousness of these threats, the official response from Twitter continues to be extremely weak.

‘Social media platforms have a responsibility for the platform they give users. They should not tolerate this kind of abuse, rape threats and potentially criminal behaviour.

‘Your inadequate response fails not only Caroline, but many more women and girls who have faced similar abuse on your social network.’

However, a spokesman for Twitter has confirmed that a ‘report abuse’ button now accompanies every tweet on iPhones, with other platforms to follow.

Caroline Criado Perez’s celebrations of Jane Austen being featured on a new £10 note were soon overshadowed by Twitter abuse (Picture: Reuters)

The controversy began after Ms Criado Perez, a journalist, began a campaign to keep women on British banknotes.

Ms Criado Perez said: ‘It’s sadly not unusual to get this kind of abuse but I’ve never seen it get as intense or aggressive as this.

‘We made the Bank of England change its mind, we can do the same with Twitter.’

Those who publicly supported the feminist campaigner, including Stella Creasy MP, were also targeted by the disruptive Twitter users.

Ms Creasy had hit out at Twitter’s security policies, telling the BBC: ‘Twitter needs to be explicit that sexual violence and sexual aggression will not be tolerated as part of their user terms and conditions.’